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From recreational applications to workplace technologies: an empirical study of cross-context IS continuance in the case of virtual worlds

  • Research Article
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Journal of Information Technology

Abstract

Although three-dimensional, immersive virtual worlds, such as Active Worlds, Second Life, and Teleplace have been in existence for several years, their organizational use is rather limited. This paper posits, perhaps counter intuitively, that the diffusion of virtual worlds within organizations could be enhanced by their recreational usage. This argument is motivated by the notion developed in this paper that the use of technologies need not remain within a single context, but instead can cross-contexts, for example from recreational to vocational. We term such shift cross-context IS continuance. This paper proposes that workers using virtual worlds for recreational (i.e., hedonic and social) use are suitably positioned to discover those technologies’ workplace applicability, thereby assisting in their diffusion within the organization. Building on the supporting results of an empirical study, this paper recommends that managers consider allowing for ‘playtime’ with virtual worlds as a mechanism for enhancing their adoption and subsequent diffusion in the workplace. From an information systems (IS)-research perspective, this paper makes several important contributions. First, it contributes to the IS continuance literature by arguing for, and providing evidence in support of, the existence of cross-context continuance. To date, this literature stream has examined only one aspect of continuance – for example, within-context. Second, this paper identifies recreational and work as distinct dimensions of technology usage, and hedonic and social usage as sub-dimensions of the former, thereby contributing to the contextualization of this core IS construct. Third, it is one of the early field studies dedicated to the empirical examination of virtual worlds.

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Notes

  1. Applicable technologies are capable of offering multiple uses in various contexts (Dearing and Meyer, 1994).

  2. Objects created by human workmanship (Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary).

  3. Sun Microsystems’ 3D virtual world.

  4. Although the inner-workings of within-context IS continuance are beyond the scope of this paper, it is worth noting that there are several explanations for this link including automatic behavior or habit (e.g. Limayem et al., 2007; Limayem and Cheung, 2008; Ortiz de Guinea and Markus, 2009), formation or changes of cognitive beliefs (e.g. Karahanna et al., 1999; Venkatesh et al., 2002; Kim and Malhotra, 2005), and formation or changes of attitudes (e.g. Bhattacherjee, 2001a, 2001b; Bhattacherjee and Premkumar, 2004). For a detailed review of the various approaches to IS continuance behavior see recent review by Ortiz de Guinea and Markus (2009).

  5. According to the group's public profile, it is a ‘community for professionals involved in the virtual worlds and 3D Internet industry.’

  6. Web surveys work best when targeted to a well-defined interest group on a question of self-interest (Doane and Seward, 2010), such as the LinkedIn group we targeted.

  7. Two respondents indicated that they are not currently employed; we did not use their responses in the data analyses.

  8. We acknowledge that given the paucity of empirical research on virtual worlds, the content validity of the scales could be enhanced in future research.

  9. In a separate analysis, we tested a comparable model using the approach of repeated indicators (Chin et al., 2003) and have obtained similar results.

  10. Respondents were provided with a text box in which they could enter their comments and/or feedback.

  11. Past research has established a link between intentions to use and actual future use behavior (Davis et al., 1989).

  12. ‘Playtime’ has been shown as conducive to inventive behavior in past studies (e.g., Weick, 1998; Cooper, 2000). Indeed, organizations such as Apple and Google provide their employees with play spaces to foster and encourage innovation and creativity (Gilkey and Kilts, 2007).

  13. International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.: http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/virtualworlds.IBMVirtualWorldGuidelines.html; SUN Microsystems Inc.: http://www.sun.com/communities/guidelines.jsp; Intel Corporation: http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm; Utah State: http://www.utahta.wikispaces.net/file/view/State+of+Utah+Social+Media+Guidelines+9.29.pdf/177053623/State%20of%20Utah%20Social%20Media%20Guidelines%209.29.pdf.

  14. In addition to developing new items for existing scales, it may be fruitful to develop new scales altogether. For example, it is possible that educational usage of a virtual world would emerge as a distinct usage context, meriting a new scale (an interesting example is Global Kids’ Teen Second Life).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the excellent direction of the senior editor, and the valuable comments of the reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BA310, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, USA

    Saggi Nevo

  2. S337H, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Canada

    Dorit Nevo

  3. S337K, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Canada

    Henry Kim

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  1. Saggi Nevo
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  2. Dorit Nevo
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Correspondence to Saggi Nevo.

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Nevo, S., Nevo, D. & Kim, H. From recreational applications to workplace technologies: an empirical study of cross-context IS continuance in the case of virtual worlds. J Inf Technol 27, 74–86 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2011.18

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